Distances and Dreams
by LikeARunaway
Summary: Fifteen years after the defeat of Vegnagun..there is a new story to tell. (Chapter 2 now up) (Pairings TidusYuna and GippalRikku)
1. The start of what's to come

A/N: This is the result of an ongoing rp a friend and I are doing. Personally, I thought it would make a great story. I'm changing it a bit so it flows more like a story then a rp. These are compleatly made up characters and the setting is about 15 years after the ending of FFX-2. (The perfect ending if any of you are wondering.) Anyhoo, please R&R.  
  
Distances and Dreams  
  
Chapter 1  
  
The day was a beautifull one on the isle of Besaid. Blue sky was etched against tropical blue ocean waters and deep green trees. Not a cloud was in the sky and there was barely a trace of wind. This also aquainted for it to be rather hot outside. Many flocked to the cool shade of their homes. It was around midday so barely anyone was out and about, save for a few.  
  
A young male sat on the beach, staring into the sea. He looked to be around the age of fifteen. Deep blue eyes focusing on nothing in particular..except maybe the seemingly endless ocean infront of him. The young man rose quickly from his seat on the beach and wiped the sand off his shorts. Straightening, he ran a hand through his short blond hair and he sighed. A trickle of sweat streamed down his face. He pulled a pair of glove out from his pockets and put them on. With a sudden weird motion of his hand, the boy dissapeared.  
  
A girl around the same age as the young man watched him. from afar. Her hair was cut about shoulder length and was the same color as her fathers; highlighted blond. Tropical blue eyes gazed out from a rather softly sculpted face; obviously from her mother. She was rather tall, standing about 5'7". She wore a pair of black shorts and a yellow and white vest adorned her top. A little gasp was let out as the boy dissapeared.  
  
'What the heck?' She thought.  
  
The boy then reappeared in the water. Paddling his gloved hands for a moment, he floated. With a smile, he dove under the surface and didn't reappear.  
  
Walking from her place behind the tree, she found herself at the waters edge. Looking out across the waves, she watched as the boy dove under. Taking a few steps out into the warm water, she decided to follow him. Taking a deep breath, she dove under the water. She opened her eyes and searched for him. Priding herself on her Blitzball skills, she dove deeper still holding her breath with ease. 'Where did he go?'  
  
The boy was right under her. She was oblivious to the fact that she was right on top of him. He did a flip in the water to start swimming back up and was startled at the sight of someone following him. In that instant, he had dissapeared yet again.  
  
Looking down, she saw the breif image of the boy before he dissapeared again. She opened her mouth to shout but all that came out were bubbles. With a irritated look, she swam to the surface and floated there. 'Stupid kid..' She thought angrily as she floated there.  
  
The boy reappeared back on the beach once more. Sand clung to his wet feet as he walked a few feet from the water's edge and sat down. Spotting the girl, he raised a brow and watched her. He had seen her around the village numerous times.  
  
Just as she turned to swim back, she spotted the boy again. Rolling her light blue eyes, she began to swim back slowly. The girl paused as she noticed him staring at her. She shot him a glare and continued to the beach. Upon reaching it, she walked out of the water grudgingly. Finding a sutable spot a few feet up from water level, the girl proceeded to wring out her clothing and hair.  
  
Upon recieving the glare he moved his eyes back out to the sea. He stared out there for a moment contemplating wether or not to walk up to her. 'She seems a little mad at me.. Heck I don't even know her. Oh well.' Finishing his mental argument, he got up and walked over to the girl. "Hi!" he put out his gloved hand, "What's your name?"  
  
She paused and stood there and watching him with a somewhat angry look. Blue eyes flashed dangerously as she looked down at the hand then back up at him. "You expect me to be nice to you after you kept running from me? Heh, yeah." She turned and plopped down crosslegged in the sand with her arms crossed, sand sticking to her still damp clothes.  
  
The blond haired boy was a little taken back by her outburst. Eyebrows furrowed as he looked down at her. "Well, jeez sorry! Hey, what would you do if you think your all alone then all the sudden you turn around and there's a person behind you?"  
  
She looked over her shoulder at him and sighed. "I guess your right." She stood and tried to wipe the sand that stuck to her wet clothes and body. "Damnit." she cursed under her breath. Looking up again, she took his hand and smiled. "Hi."  
  
Her sudden change of heart was rather confusing to him. Shaking her hand lightly, he spoke. "Uh.. Hi again. I'm Juno"  
  
She nodded and let go of his hand. Turning, she looked out to the ocean. "My name's Zari." She said without looking back at him.  
  
Juno turned as well and gazed out at the ocean. He crossed his arms and looked up at the sky for a moment before remembering something. It had been nagging him for the past hour. "Hey, uh, do you know what time it is?" He said. 'Maybe if I find out the time..maybe it'll come back to me.' He thought.  
  
Turning to him again, Zari thought for a moment. "Well when I left my house it was about twelve..why?" She said, raising a brow.  
  
"Ah, shit! I'm late. Parents are gonna kill me gotta go BYE!" Juno turned around and started running home. Grabbing his shoes he turned and put his hands on his hips. With a grin he winked at Zari, and dissapeared again.  
  
Her mouth fell open slightly at his wink and she snorted. "Arogant...arrogant son of a.." Zari growled. She sat down on the sand again and layed back. A content sigh escaped her as Zari closed her eyes and sunbathed. 'Today is a good day..' She thought before she drifted off to sleep.  
  
A/N: Yeah this is the end of the first chapter. I know it's short but that was were we left off the first time. I hope you liked it. Read and review please! 


	2. Skirmish at the beach

A/N: Here is the second chapter of many more to come. Thanks for all the positive feedback from you guys. And I hope this clears a few things up that may have been confusing in the last chapter. I also forgot the disclaimer in the last chapter so I'll put it here now.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any character that was created by Squaresoft/Einx. I do own Zari, however. Rikkulover213 owns Juno. But I'm writing the story so he is part mine now. *evil laughter*  
  
Distances and Dreams Chapter 2  
  
Juno sat on the beach watching the Blitzball team practice for an upcoming game. He watched as Beclem pushed them to hard yet again. 'Jeeze they're doing their best and he still keeps pushing them. Heh. Glad i'm not on the team.' He mused to himself.  
  
Zari watched them as well with a disgruntled look. She hated Beclem. One, because he kicked her off the team. Two, because, 'he was an arrogant, selfish bastard.' She snorted at the thought and turned away to watch the ocean. Noticing that Juno was down on the beach, she smiled a little.  
  
"Well at least there's something to do."  
  
Jumping down from the tree she was in, she walked down towards him. Zari heard Beclem make a sarcastic remark about her climbing trees but she chose to ignore it..for now. Walking up, she tapped him on the shoulder. "Hello."  
  
Juno heard the remark that Beclem made and ignored Zari. He got up and started to walk over to Beclem.  
  
"HEY BECLEM!"  
  
Zari watched as he got up and started to walk over to Beclem. She smacked her head and ran infront of him. "Juno don't. I can take care of myself. He does this all the time."  
  
He ignored her as Beclem turned around, "Why do you have to be such a bastard all the time? You push them to hard, you make fun of people, and your just an all around..." He got cut off there because a fist nailed right in the face. he flew backwards and hit the ground unconisious.  
  
Zari rolled her eyes. "I warned you." She stared at the unconsionce boy for a moment before walking up to Beclem. She stood slightly shorter then him, but it didn't really matter. Beclem did have a few morals, and one of them was he didn't hit girls. Scowling, she pushed him. "What? Do you have to pick on others just to get to me? Is that it?" Zari smirked as Beclem got up and charged towards her. 'Ok..so maybe he doesn't always play by the rules.' He hit her in the stomach and Zari stumbled back and fell on her butt. That definatly hurt more then it was supposed to.  
  
Beclem smirked. "Not so tough are ya."  
  
Lucky for both of them, Gippal was watching the whole thing. Running at Beclem, he tackled him to the ground. Sitting on top of him he punched Beclem twice in the face. "That's for hitting my kid and Tidus' kid! Don't ever touch them again." He got up and stared at Beclem as he got up. Beclem started to move towards Gippal with an angry scowl upon his face. Gippal just made a gesture as if warning him that he would hit him again and Beclem ran off. "Are you ok, Zari?" He said cautiously as he neared her.  
  
Looking up quickly, she suddenly felt dizzy for a few seconds. It cleared and she nodded to Gippal meekly while still clutching her stomach. A few tears welled up in her eyes. 'Damnit! Not now..' She curled her legs to her chest and placed her head on her knees. "Stupid bastard.." She mumbled to herself.  
  
Gippal walked over to Juno and picked him up, slinging him gently over his shoulder. The Al Bhed man spoke in a exsaperated tone. "He seems to be doing a lot of this. Juno gets in fights he can't win so then he comes home all brused up. Rikku and I are beginning to worry about him, he could end up dead soon if he keeps this up." Gippel sighed as he adjusted his grip on his sons leg.  
  
Zari looked up at Gippal as she listened. "I told him not to do it." She paused and turned away with the slight hint of anger on her face. "It was none of his buisness anyway." Zari mumbled angerily to herself. The sound of soft steps on sand made Zari look up. Tidus was staring down at her, hard. A worried spark was evident in his deep blue eyes.  
  
Kneeling next to his daughter, Tidus placed a hand on her shoulder. "You ok?"  
  
Zari nodded to him and grabbed onto his shoulder as he hauled her slowly to her feet. She wobbled a bit and Tidus was right next to her to catch her if she fell but she steadied herself and smiled weakly at her dad.  
  
"Can we go home now?"  
  
Tidus chuckled and nodded to her. "Yeah let's go get you cleaned up." He turned to Gippal and smiled warmly at his friend. "Thanks for telling Beclem off. I need to talk to Wakka about him."  
  
Gippal smirked and waved a hand infront of his face. "Heh. He was nothing. But your right about how he needs a little shaping up." Turning to the sky for a second, Gippal again adjusted his grip. "Well we better be heading back. See ya later Tidus."  
  
Tidus nodded at the retreating form of Gippal. A light tap on the shoulder made Tidus turn to Zari with a smile. "Yes?"  
  
Zari giggled and jumped on Tidus' back. "Carry me." She said in a mock pitifull tone.  
  
Tidus laughed full-heartedly as he grabbed Zari's knees and began to pad across the warm sand. A sudden gust of cold wind from the ocean made Tidus shiver and pause as he turned to gaze back. Zari was confused as well as she watched the horizon. After a few moments, the feeling had passed and Tidus turned and continued back to the village.  
  
'What was that? The only other time I'd felt that feeling was inside of Sin...' Tidus mused to himself. This thought flowed in his head all the way back to the village.  
  
'I think I need to talk to Yuna.'  
  
A/N: What to say..hmm. Well there isn't much to say except R&R. ^^ 


	3. Determination

A/N: This chapter is going to focus more on Juno and his..ahem..determined nature. I hope you like it! Please R&R!  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any character that was created by Squaresoft/Einx. I do own Zari and about 1/3 of Juno. Heh heh.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
'Hmm now's my chance to sneak into the Cloister of Trials and see what the big deal is about it.' Juno thought as he started to walk towards the large temple with a smirk on his face. Upon entering the temple, he looked around and saw that the guard that stood by the entrance to the Cloister was gone. 'Heh, probably on a lunch break.' With a low laugh, he began to walk up the stairs.  
  
Just then, Lulu walked out of one of the side rooms and spotted Juno. Her eye narrowed as she walked towards the bottom of the stairs and placed her hands on her hips.  
  
"Just what do you think your doing?"  
  
Juno spun around at the low voice of the black mage. His eyes widened slightly as he stared down at her.  
  
"Um..nothing..."  
  
Lulu quirked a brow at the young man. "Then why are you proceeding to enter the Cloister? Hmm?" She tapped her foot lightly.  
  
Juno chuckled nervously. "Uh..bye." He turned and began to jog quickly into the entrance.  
  
Lulu quickly raised a hand above her head and cast a light fire spell upon him. Juno tumbled down the stairs to land in a heap at the mage's feet. She looked down at him for a moment before grabbing his ear. "Come on, we're going to go tell your parents of your..misbehavior." With Juno in tow, Lulu stalked out the temple.  
  
The young teen whined and tried to get away only resulting in Lulu squeasing harder.  
  
"Oww! Please don't tell my parents! I won't do it again I swear!!"  
  
Lulu stopped and glanced back at the squirming teen. Pondering for a moment, she narrowed her eyes. She stared at him like this for a moment before sighing.  
  
"Fine."  
  
Juno let out a large breath that had caught in his throat. He fidigted nervously before looking up to Lulu as best as he could  
  
"Your not going to tell my parents are you?"  
  
Sighing, Lulu let go of him. "No, just don't go in there. Please. It's for your own safety." She shook her head and smiled. "Now go find Zari or something. Maybe she would like to talk to you after that little "fight" that you and Beclem had on the beach?" She continued to stare at him as if waiting for him to dash back into the temple.  
  
Juno squirmed under the Black Mage's gaze once again. What was it about Lulu that made him so damn nervous? 'Oh yeah, she could kill me with a single spell..' He thought to himself with a mental groan. Timidly, he glanced over to meet her red eyes with his own blue. "Um....yeah...ok...." He paused. "So are you going to leave?"  
  
Lulu laughed a little. "No not until I know your not going to go into the Cloister."  
  
"I won't" The Al Bhed said quickly. 'Dammit..that was too quick.' He thought with a scowl.  
  
"I'm not going to believe you until you walk into Zari's hut and stay there." Lulu narrowed her eyes at him. She knew he was going to try to pull something.  
  
"Alright fine." He said half-heartedly. 'How stupid can this lady get?' A sly smirk crossed his face as he walked ahead of Lulu a bit. Her footsteps faded slightly behind him but Juno knew she was still watching. It made the hairs on the back of his neck prickle.  
  
Upon reaching Zari's hut, he pushed the flap aside with a gloved hand. It was rather cool compared to the warm tropical air outside. The living area was quite tidy and Juno knew that was Yuna's doing. To him, Zari or her father didn't seem like the organized type.  
  
After about ten minutes, Juno assumed that Lulu was convinced that he wasn't going to go into the Cloister. With a triumphant smile, he strode out of the cool hut and began his trek up to the temple. To his dismay, Lulu was sitting upon the steps with a knowing smile. Juno growled to himself and stalked over to the steps. Plopping down beside her, he rested his head in his left hand and sighed deeply.  
  
"There's nothing to do here Lu."  
  
Lulu shrugged and closed her eyes. "Well I cannot help you there."  
  
Juno had to finally resort to his last plan... "PLEASE! JUST FOR A LITTLE BIT?" Begging.  
  
She finally snapped. "NO FOR THE LAST TIME!! NOOOOO!!" Lulu stood and glared daggers down at the young man.  
  
The sudden out rage made Juno jump.  
  
"WOAH! I'm sorry ok." He studdered nervously. Seeing as Lulu had closed her eyes and began to rub her forhead, Juno decided to make a very risky decision.  
  
"BYE!" He shouted as he ran into the temple entrance as fast as his legs could carry him.  
  
Lulu moved to follow him but decided against it. 'Fine, he'll learn his lesson himself.' And with that she stomped back to her's and Wakka's hut.  
  
Juno smirked as he watched the Mage turn around and turn back. Blue eyes glittered michiviously as he turned and jogged up the stairs.  
  
The inside of the Cloister was compleatly dark. No torches had been lit for a very, very long time. As Juno's eyes focused to the immense darkness, he spotted the elevator. He walked onto it, praying that it still worked. Nothing moved.  
  
"Damnit! Move!! Come on, work!!"  
  
The slab suddenly jerked causing Juno to fall on his butt. It hurt but the elevator was moving! It reached the bottom with a thunk. Juno got to his feet and walked confidently into the doors that lead to the main part of the Trials.  
  
Pushing open the large stone doors, Juno was blasted with a breath of icy cold air. He rubbed his arms adn continued on.  
  
"Jeeze it's cold in here..And really quiet."  
  
A low growl echoed off the walls and Juno froze, his eyes widening. The scrape of metallic-like claws made him jump and spin around to come face to face with a Chimera. Its three heads turned to focus on him and Juno's mouth fell open. From his chest came a horrified scream.  
  
"AHHH!!! SOME ONE HELP!!"  
  
With a long roar, the fiend jumped at Juno.  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
Zari, in the meantime, had watched the whole thing between Juno and Lulu unfold with a smirk. Now that Juno had gone into the Temple and Lulu was cursing furiously about the rebellous boy, Zari found it in her best intrest to keep out of the way, so she had found a nice tree to sit in. While Zari was sunbaithing, A scream from inside the Temple made her almost fall out of the tree. She regained her balance and recognized the scream as Juno's. Leaping from the tree branch, she sprinted up the hill to the Temple. The monks tried to stop her but she pushed them aside with an angry shout.  
  
"Get out of the way you idiots!!"  
  
She slamed herself against the door and it swung open easily. A loud roar echoed throughout the Cloister and Zari had to cover her ears. Skidding around a corner, she spotted Juno lying on the ground but not injured. Pulling out an old sword, she growled at Juno.  
  
"You idiot! You've lived here all your life and you still don't know that there are FIENDS in here!?"  
  
She dashed up and sliced at the monster before retuturning and glaring at Juno. It howled and thrashed in pain. Zari turned her attention away from Juno to stare in wonder at the Chimera. Confusion shimmered in her crystaline blue eyes.  
  
'What the..? I'm not strong enough to make it scream in pain...Am I?' Zari was perplexed at the thought.  
  
Juno, in the meanwhile, had shakily gotten to his feet and he turned to leave. Casting one last glance back at Zari, he was rather convinced that she could handle it. Besides, what could he do with no weapon?  
  
"Uh..bye."  
  
With that, he practically flew out of the temple.  
  
Zari turned to give a irritated glare at his retreating form before glancing at the fallen fiend once more. After a few moments she shook her head and ran out of the Cloister.  
  
Upon reaching the steps that lead down to the village, a satisfied smile crossed her face as she spotted Lulu with a squirming Juno held tight by the ear. Lulu glared daggers..no..swords at Juno and that look did unsettle Zari a little.  
  
"I distinctly told you not to go in there! Your lucky Zari came in and saved your scrawny ass!" She grabbed his ear again. "Now come on, we're going to tell your parents. And if you try to get away, I'm casting Ulitma on your sorry ass." Lulu grumbed as she dragged him along.  
  
Juno's eyes widened in horror. "Lulu please!! I promise I won't do it again! I learned my lesson! Don't make me face them!!  
  
Lulu had had enough of Juno's actions for the day and all that whining and begging wasnt going to help his case. She pinched his ear a little harder and turned to look at him with a furious glare.  
  
"Yes the parents." She hissed and dragged him into Rikku's and Gippal's hut.  
  
Juno whimpered and followed in a defeated slump. He turned to glare at a very amused Zari before being drug into his hut.  
  
'I'm dead.'  
  
A/N: I believe this chapter is stationed more around humor then anything. Poor Juno. Heh heh. *roasts him* 


End file.
